Member-only story
Combatting What Steven Pressfield Calls Resistance
Resistance is a force that presents itself as multiple obstacles on a given path.
One of the most poignant books I’ve read (listened to) is Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. In it, the author goes through the pitfalls of the creative process — and the ongoing battle to produce your work. I relisten to this book at least once a year, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The main issue is what he calls “Resistance”. Resistance is a force that stands against your work to be your best self. It frequently manifests as procrastination, excuses, indecision, and anything and everything that keeps you from doing your work.
Pressfield talks about this in the face of artistic creativity, entrepreneurship, or any other effort to pursue what Paulo Coelho calls your “personal legend.” It’s that certain something you feel in your bones, in the depths of your soul, that is your calling.
But can you/will you pursue it?
To quote Pressfield directly,
“Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. … If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.”
Having just finished listening to the book once more, I took away something that should have been obvious to me before — but wasn’t.
Resistance is why I don’t always get my 1500 words of fiction written every day.
More than that, Resistance is where my self-sabotage comes from.
I feel like this is where I’m face-palming and going, “D’oh! Why didn’t I see it before?”
This has altered my perspective in a generative way.
Make ready for combat
I’ve been practicing medieval fencing for over 30 years. Thus, combat — one-on-one and group/melee — is a familiar concept for me.
Personifying my procrastination, self-sabotage, and obstacles as Resistance creates an opponent I can face. It’s no longer the…
